Electric-lamp fixture.



L E. DOOLITTLE. ELBGTRIG LAMP FIXTURE. `APPLICATION FILED DBG. 21, 1908.

Patented 0ct.18,1910.

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STATES PERRY E. DOOLITTLE, OF TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO DOOLITTLE RIM CO., LTD.

ELECTRIC-LAMP FIXTURE.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, PERRY E. DooLiT'rLE, a

vsubject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Toronto, in the county of York and Province. of Ontario, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-Lamp Fixtures, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to electric lamp fixtures and its object is to provide a device capable of permitting the lowering` and raising of the lamp, and of such simple and com pact construction that it may be made at an economically practicable cost of manufacture so as to make it adaptable for general use, having means for providing a fixed con tinuous circuit in such a fixture so as to avoid danger from sparking or bad contacts, adapted to avoid winding or bending of any considerable portion of the connecting wires whereby breaking or weakening of such wires throughout the part thereof between the wall attachment and the lamp is prevented and in which the lamp cord winding means is capable of use in connection with lamps of widely varying weights.

Hitherto in electric lamp adjusting fixtures, one objection has existed with many constructions in the necessity for employing in a drum or roller device for winding up the lamp cord, a double drum or other means for permitting` the cord to wind up at one end while it is unwinding at the other end.v In other constructions an objection lies to the employment of immovable Contact pieces carried by the drum, from which there is danger of sparking, short circuiting, or bad contacts. Another objection has existed in the necessity of employing cumbersome means to take up the slack in the lamp cord as it is wound up.

My invention aims to obviate these difficulties and accomplish the objects above set forth and to these ends it isv embodied in preferable form in the device hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In these drawings, Figure 1 is aside view in elevation, with one side of inclosing casing removed of my improved fixture; Fig. 2 is a central vertical section through the winding drum and Fig. 3, is a plan view and Fig. 4 is a detail side elevation of the lever and partof the drum.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application :tiled December 21, 1908.

Patented Oct. 18, 1910.

Serial No. 468,545.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is an electric lamp attached to a pendent cord Q, containing the connecting wires. Mounted on a fixed spindle 3 which is secured to a bracket or casing 4 fastened to the wall or ceiling, is a rotatable drum 5. lVithin this drum and having one end secured thereto is a coiled spring 6, the other end of which is secured to the spindle. The cord 2 passes several times around the periphery of this drum and the spring has a constant tendency to turn said drum and wind up the cord thereon.

From the outside of the drum the connecting wires either in the ordinary cord or other insulating covering are passed into the interior thereof and are carried by and'follow the coils of the spring. Preferably this is effected by making the spring of a flattened tubular form in ei'osssection as seen in Fig. 3, and carrying the wires in their covering, through this tube. These wire conductors are secured to the spring near the end that is fixed to the spindle and then pass out to the ordinary wall or ceiling blocks.

Pivoted to the bracket or casing l is a brake lever 7 provided on its under side with a series of teeth or corrugations 8, and adapted to engage corresponding teeth or corrugations 9, formed in an annular flange 10, extending laterally from the outer edge of the drum. This Abrake lever at its outer end carries a pulley 11 over which is passed the conductor cord 2, so that the weight of the hanging lamp will press t-he brake lever against the drum, holding the opposing corrugations normally in engagement and thus prevent the rotation of the drum by the coiled spring, or by the weight of the lamp. The pulley is preferably mounted on a threaded shaft 12 so that the pulley will travel along the same and lay the cord evenly on the drum. At its point of pivotal connection, the lever has a vertically elongated slot 13 engaging the pivot pin, whereby the lever is permitted a free up and down bodily movement with respect to such pin. An arm 14 of the lever extends beyond the pivot and at its end is secured an adjustable tension spiral spring 15 which merely exerts such a tension on the lever as, in conjunction with the counterbalancing weight of the lamp, will hold the lever normally in horizontal position. Below the forward arm is fixed a pin 16 on which the lever is adapted to rock, when vthe cord is positively pulled down by a force in excess of the weight of the lamp.

The functions and operation of the device are as follows As the lamp hangs down, its weight will be suliicient to maintain the brake member in engagement with the drum and prevent the rotation of the drum. As the lamp is lifted by hand so as to relieve its weight from -the brake, the spring l5 will raise the lever from engagement with the arms, and the spring will turn the drum, winding up the lamp cord thereon so as to elevate the lamp. As the cord is pulled down, to lower the lamp, the lever will be rocked on the fulcrum pin 16, the elongated slot at the pivot permitting the lever to move up bodily from the drum, relieving the drum of pressure, and thus permitting unwinding of the cord, while the spring will be contracted. In the winding and unwinding act-ions of the spring the conductor wires which follow the convolutions thereof, will be merely carried in and out circumferentially and therefore subjected to no deteriorating bending action, and the only part of the wires between the ceiling and the lamp that will be materially curved and bent will be the short section extending around the drum which is merely of such length as to permit of the proper extension of the cord.

It is clear that various changes may be made in the mode of carrying out the conductor wires around with and by the convolutions of the spring, and in the means of engagement between the brake member and the drum and in other features, without departing from the principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. An electric lamp adjusting fixture having a rotatable drum, a coiled winding spring therefor, a pendent lamp-carrying' cord passing over said drum and carried by and following the convolutions of said spring and means to hold said drum inoperative, substantially as described.

2. An electric lamp adjusting fixture having a rotatable drum, a coiled winding spring therefor, a pendent lamp-carrying cord passing over said drum and carried by and following the convolutions of said spring and a brake member held in engagement with the drum solely by the weight of the lamp to maintain said drum in inoperative position, substantially as described.

3. An electric lamp adjusting xture having a rotatable drum, a coiled winding spring within said drum, means to normally hold the drum stationary, a continuous flexible conductor to which the lamp is secured, leading from a fixed block to and around the convolutionsof said spring and secured thereto and passing over said drum to the lamp, whereby the only part of the flexible conductor subjected to a depending action is that part around the drum, substantially as described.

t. An electric lamp adjusting fixture having a rotatable drum, a Winding spring therefor, a pendent lamp carrying cord running over said drum, a substantially horizontal brake lever having projections, and corresponding projections on the drum to engage the same, said lever being engaged by said cord and being held in engagement with the drum by the depending weight of the lamp, and means at the end of said lever engaged by said cord, substantially as described.

5. A lamp adjusting xture having a rotatable drum, a winding spring for said drum, a flexible lamp carrying member passing over the drum, a substantially horizontal pivoted brake member having means to engage the drum to prevent its rotation and held in engagement with the drum by the weight of the lamp, and means to release said member from contact with the drum upon a positive pull downward on the lamp carrying member exerting force in excess of the weight of the lamp, substantially as described.

6. A lamp adjusting fixture having a rotatable drum, a winding spring therefor, a flexible lamp carrying member passing over said drum, a pivoted brake lever having means to engage said drum to hold it from rotation and means for holding it in such engagement by the weight of the depending lamp, said lever having an elongated slot engaging its pivot pin, an arm projecting rearwardly from said lever beyond the pivot, a spring connected to such arm, a fulcrum pin with which the forward arm of the lever is adapted to contact when the lever is forcibly rocked, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PERRY E. DOOLITTLE.

Vitnesses:

JAS. H. BLAcKWooD, W. O. BLAcxwooD. 

